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Font problems after 10.6.7

I'm getting lots of strange behaviour relating to fonts since updating to 10.6.7. This is all in things that used to work perfectly.
PostScript output causes errors in Distiller (problems in font definitions); and manipulating PDF objects can cause embedded fonts to become .... unembedded.

As I understand it, there were lots of security fixes to font handling in the update, but it seems to have caused loads of trouble.

The developers for an app I use, Imposition Wizard, have confirmed that things aren't working as they are supposed to and have filed bug reports with Apple.

However, as I do a lot of work with PostScript and PDFs, I will have to reinstall the OS to 10.6.6.

iMac 2006 2Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.7), MacBook 2008

Posted on Mar 22, 2011 3:07 PM

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424 replies

Mar 24, 2011 8:24 AM in response to benwiggy

Same issues here. Total font mess in Flash files. Have also posted in Adobe Forums. Here is what has allowed me to keep working:

First I quit Flash. I then disable those fonts causing problems in Font Book "computer" list, and enable them in the "user" list. I launch Flash and then my files look like they should. I've had to do this a few times for different fonts, and will probably have to do more. But for now this seems to work for me, albeit temporarily. Leaving FontBook open also helps.

See this thread:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3565376

Mar 24, 2011 8:28 AM in response to -mcs

Tested InDesign CS5 and Quark XPress 8.5. I created test documents with random paragraphs pulled out of various other docs, and assigned just about every OpenType face of Myriad Pro and Frutiger LT Std to the paragraphs. Both produce correct PDF files. InDesign through Acrobat Pro 9, and Quark through its built in PDF generator.

InDesign doesn't support printing any PDF files from its print dialogue via the PDF drop down menu OS X displays at the lower left. Quark will let you use those options, and cannot create a correct PDF that way.

Word 2011 does not work. I don't know if was any better in 10.6.6 as I don't normally ever create PDF files out of Word. But I could not produce a PDF with the same method of assigning numerous typefaces to random paragraphs. The output from Save as Adobe PDF would hang. Other ways of producing PDF files would finish, but the resulting PDF file would be damaged in some way. Text would not display correctly. If I made all of the text one typeface, it would work with some fonts, but not others. So, essentially the same problem as Quark trying to use any of the OS X linked PDF choice.

InDesign and Quark have no problems through Acrobat Pro 9. All other methods fails with Word and pretty much any other app depending on what fonts are used. So it appears what's broke is OS X's PDF generator.

Mar 24, 2011 9:03 AM in response to benwiggy

I have a problem too. When printing from Sibelius and saving as a PDF, the file type created is now "Quartz PDFContent". Before upgrading to 10.6.7 the filetype created was just "PDF". I can view this file on my system but when sent as an email attachment the receiver cannot open the file type. Also, on my system I cannot open the file using Adobe Reader 9.1.1 (just get a spinning beach ball). I'm going to try downgrading to 10.6.6

Mar 24, 2011 9:11 AM in response to thobie

I also ran into problems with Myriad Pro, specifically Myriad Pro Italic in Motion and Final Cut Pro. The letters "g" and "y" disappear.

As C42D suggests in this forum, the solution was to re-install Snow Leopard from the disc and install the 10.6.6 combo here: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1349

Looks like my Myriad Pro is back to normal.

Shame on me for upgrading in the middle of a project.

Mar 24, 2011 11:12 AM in response to phillyb091

Same Problem here.
Some OTF Fonts do behave very strange while generating SWF Files from Flash CS5.
Some Characters disappear, some deform in extreme ways.

I found out with converting the OTF Font to TTF (with FontLab Studio) the problem disappears.
I guess the problem has something to do with OTF Fonts only.

I hope there is a solution soon, because i can't switch back to 10.6.6.

Mar 24, 2011 11:53 AM in response to benwiggy

After 36 hours of frustration, I have had no choice but to go back to 10.6.6. I'm just lucky i had a bootable backup on an external drive using SuperDuper.

Copied entire hardrive back to my Macbook from the week before the update. Ensured I backed up recent documents but I'm back to 10.6.6 and everything is fine now.

I tried to use the OSX install DVD first, but it kept hanging on the gray login screen.

From now on, I am gonna make a bootable copy the minute before I do any more updates.

What a nightmare.

Shame on you Apple!

Mar 25, 2011 1:45 AM in response to benwiggy

I'm having the same problems with the fonts. I've been using Frutiger bold (OTF) and it's having problems rendering. Some characters are missing some seem to be stretched. I've got Flash CS3 and CS5, the problem is happening on both versions, although it does appear to be less of a problem on CS5. I haven't encountered it on any other programs yet.

I've tried re-installing Flash, disabling/re-enabling fonts. Nothing seems to work, looks like i'll have to revert back to 10.6.6 until the problem is fixed.

Mar 25, 2011 9:59 AM in response to Jasperdrickx

I have submitted the following feedback to Apple:

After updating to Mac OS X 10.6.7, attempting to Print > PDF > Save as PDF... a document containing text set in the OpenType font "Myriad Pro Light Italic" results in a PDF that is viewable in Preview.app, but causes an error when sent to a PostScript printer or opened in Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.4.3. The error displayed by Acrobat Pro is:

"Cannot extract the embedded font 'DUOXGZ+MyriadPro-LightIt'. Some characters may not display or print correctly."

This problem occurs with both Microsoft Excel 2011 and TextEdit.app, so does not appear to be application-related.

Other people appear to be having similar issues:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2792142&tstart=15

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2794186&tstart=90

Mar 25, 2011 10:31 AM in response to benwiggy

I've had a similar problem with a font I bought from Adobe about 15 years ago (Graphite MM). At first there were disappearing characters ("i's and "l's") and then random characters. Changing the font of a text block would bring up the proper text. I found I had a lot of fonts in my user's library that were duplicates of fonts in the system library. I deleted these. I then placed the offending font, "Graphite MM" into the system library and now everything works. I can't explain it (and neither can Apple or Adobe) but it works.

BTW, my font "Graphite MM" shows a file creation date in 1993. A veritable antique by computer standards. This could be a part of the problem.

Font problems after 10.6.7

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